Press TV:
Russia imposes ban on 18 US officials
[image: Russian Foreign Ministry building (file photo)]
Russian Foreign Ministry building (file photo)
Russia has banned 18 US officials from entering the country in retaliation
for Washington's move to publish a list of Russian officials targeted for
sanctions under the so-called "Magnitsky Act."
Russian Foreign Ministry on Saturday released its own blacklist of American
officials "implicated in human rights violations."
"The war of lists is not our choice, but we cannot ignore outright
blackmail," said the ministry in a statement.
The move came a day after Moscow warned that the publication of the
sanctions list by the American officials "will unquestionably have a very
negative impact on Russian-US bilateral relations."
The Russian Foreign Ministry added that the Russian blacklist "primarily
includes those who are implicated in legalization of torture and perpetual
detentions in Guantanamo prison, to the arrests and kidnapping of Russian
citizens."
David Spears Addington, the chief of staff for former Vice President Dick
Cheney; the US district judge Jed Rakoff, FBI agent Gregory Coleman as well
as Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller and Ad. Jeffrey Harbeson -- two former
commanders of the Guantanamo Bay prison camp -- are among those named in
the list.
Moscow has already denied entry to a former US senior commander at the
notorious Guantanamo prison camp in Cuba where the United States keeps
terror suspects.
On January 1, Russian lawmakers enforced, among other sanctions, a ban on
Americans adopting Russian children in retaliation to the US passing of the
Magnitsky Act.
The Magnitsky Act was passed in the US on December 6, containing financial
sanctions and visa bans against Russian officials suspected of ties to the
death of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who died in jail in 2009, as well
as Russian officials allegedly guilty of "gross violations of human
rights."
DB/HN
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/04/13/298010/russia-imposes-ban-on-18-us-officials/
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Received on Sat Apr 13 2013 - 16:18:03 EDT
